Schools in San Diego Unified

I love teaching but I am finding students are falling through the cracks in the local schools.  Teachers have so many students.  It is hard for them to meet the needs of each student.  Especially when a student is in middle school that don't want to seem dumb in front of classmates.

As a parent, you should be able to review all your child's homework and see where they are misunderstanding.  Fourth grade is the year to have the best math teacher as that is when fractions are taught.  When a student is weak in fractions it can hurt them in every math class after that.

Finding a tutor to help with certain math concepts is a good idea.  It does not mean your student needs a tutor forever.  When your student is in high level math classes you need to have them attend all study sessions with their teacher and possibly find them a tutor if you can't help them with their homework.

I also have had a student who has trouble reading.  He was denied an IEP because he is smart.  But today, the common core questions, even math, all involve reading.  So even though you are smart if you can't read you end up being below basic.  So if your child is having trouble with reading, you might want to hire a tutor to help them with phonics and whole language learning.  Also fight for additional testing or another IEP.

Remember in your child's classroom there could be 5 or more students that are still learning English. There can be students whose parents work two or more jobs just to survive in this economy and have no time to help their child learn.  There can be students with autism and other special needs in their classroom.  More and more is being expected by teachers from the administration.  Many teachers are overwhelmed.  Your teacher isn't a bad teacher but could just have a large class where she/he can not meet the needs of every student.

Google Helps with Autism Research

Parents - I hope you will participate in the Autism Speaks Genome-mapping program.  Google plans to put the information in the cloud so more researchers can have access to this information.

This gene study was done on heart disease and was found helpful.  So far all the research has shown is that there isn't just one form of autism.

So when researchers come to your house, please participate.  This particular research is  called AUT1OK and will be available to all researchers to sign the standard research agreement.

There is also a similar program going on withe Alzheimer's research where five universities have sequenced 580 genomes.

This takes so much storage space so going to the cloud with Google should help everyone.

From
Genes in the Cloud: Google Steps Into Autism Research by Shirley S. Wang, Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2014

And the parents cried, "Help!"

I try to be low key about tutoring.  If you do a good job, your students grow and no longer need you as a tutor.  I try to be happy about that but it means I should be recruiting new students.

Then the grades come in after a period of no tutoring and I am called back to service.  One mother called with a SOS.  The teacher won't even help her with her homework.  So I put on my algebra 1 hat and went through two homework assignments. 

The teacher had a great trick for simplifying equations but the student had trouble remembering how to do it.  So I did the low tech method.  What two numbers multiplied together can give you the answer.  After that we figured out what the middle number needed to be so we could get the positive and negative signs with the correct variable.  After we found one in either the bottom of the equation or the top of the equations, I reminded the student, "I bet the book has one of these equations on the top so we can cancel it out."  We try it and meet with success.  I did check all the odd problems answers in the back of the book and we were correct. 

We were so happy and were sharing with the mom about how great we did and we observed her blank stare, as she was not understanding the job of algebra.  I guess that is why I am trying to tutor.  I want to make life easier for parents so they can enjoy their children and leave the painful, tense experience of 'trying to learn' with someone else.

2n2 - 5n -3   divided by 4n + 5    equals  n - 3   
4n2 - 12n -7                   2n-7                   4n + 5

I could not figure out to make the number to the second power using this blog.  :)

Screen TIme Study FInds Education Drop-Off

This article is from the New York Times January 24, 2014 written by Motoko RIck

Basically, parents do you know what games your child is playing on the computer and the educational benefits from them ?  I find parents using technology to keep their child quiet sometimes.

This survey found less that 1/2 of the time a children ages 2 to 10 is "not" educational material but watch mostly entertaining videos on electronic devices.

It is easy to say "oh my child is playing educational games" so it is fine.  But think how many hours your child is on-line for and what is he or she giving up to do that.  Children click on a new game and if it does not provide 'fun' they move to something else.

More hours in from of electronics means fewer hours connecting with human beings, playing with neighborhood kids, playing sports.  Perhaps there are more times to snack while being engaged with your electronic friend.

Michael Thornton, a second grade teacher, has parents asking for for referrals for education apps, like Geared and Glass Tower for teach math and spacial recognition skills, and 'Chicktionary', for vocabulary.

The real question today is to determine what your children and playing to to notice the educational value of the game.  Try to limit over all time hooked up to an electronic devise including television.  I have observed children viewing the television and they can't make conversation.  They just are stuck viewing and can hardly move.

It is important to check in with what they are learning.  Have them teach you how to play so you can interact more.

If kids are being entertained all the time how will they find the classroom when they are sent off to school?

I welcome your comments and observations.

Take Your Child to Art Museums

I have always taken my children to art museums in addition to most any kind of museum.  It has always been thought that arts increase thinking skills but there was never any real proof.

I read an article in The New York Times on Nov. 24. 2013 by Brian Kisida called, "Art Makes You Smart".  A study was done in Arkansas where students were able to visit museums by lottery.  This museum was set up by the daughter of Sam Walton and is 50,000 square feet and has an endowment of over $800 million.  Over 11,000 students and 500 teachers participated in this study.  The benefits were higher for minority, low income, and rural students.

"Visiting an art museum exposes students to a diversity of ideas that challenge them with different perspectives on the human condition.  Expanding access to art.. should be a central part of any school's curriculum."

Here in California, where the budget is tight and classrooms are overflowing, museum trips are sparse.  So as a parent, take your child to museums and explore together.  This beats watching a TV show together.

Google Learning in Museums to start finding resources that will work for you.
http://www.mylearning.org

http://www.imls.gov/about/learning_labs.aspx

Help Your Child Play With Math

I found this article from the New York Times, 11/14/2013 "With Apps, Children Can Play the Game of Math by Kit Eaton.  Somehow, children like to play games.  Children like to play games on the computer and they like to play on tablets.  How many parents allow their children to use their tablet or phone when having dinner, waiting for appointments, or driving in the car?  I still would prefer parents to limit this time because interacting with real human beings should be more important.  But I do agree sometimes it is nice to not be around children screaming.

But parents should look for apps that can help your child learn.  In this article she recommends "Dragonbox Algebra 5+"  It is $6.00 but she feels it is worth the money.  If you do use it please let me know what you think.

Next she recommends "Yodeloh Math Mountain".  This is more of an introductory math program.  many newspapers recommend it.  The link shows many positive reviews.

The third app she recommends is "Madagascar Math Ops".
".  There is a free version to try it out but both of these last two programs cost around $3.00 each.  This use the "Madagascar" cartoon as a carrot to involve your child. Short movies are the reward.

Finally a traditional math app she recommends is "Mathboard"  I have to admit this one does not look exciting.  With all the wonderful graphics available, I would not be excited to play a game that looks like a chalkboard.

I am using MobyMax.  This can be used on the computer or tablets but it is geared more for the teacher to give to her students.  The reward after working on worksheets which the text can be given in audio for the child who has trouble reading, is time available to play their games.

Bottom line use parents should use learning apps when something electronic is needed to keep your child interested, focused and not out of control.

Attention Deficit Disorder Drugs

I just finished reading an article from Sunday Dec 15, 2013 in the New York Times, The Selling of Attention Deficit Disorder by Alan Schwarz.  I was blown away by rates of ADHD.  We have gone from 600,000 in 1990 to 3.5 million children on medication.  Of course the pharmaceutical companies have been running a 20 year publicity campaign to teach doctors, parents and teachers.

Yikes, what is going on?  Of douse I understand that about 5 % of children do have this legitimate disability that stops a child from succeeding at school.  It can also affect home life.  But right now we are giving too many children stimulants.

Of course I don't see too much news about the addiction problems of adderall or the children who have committed suicide.  The drug companies had sales of 9 billion dollars in 2012 just on stimulant medications. Did you know that overdosing can cause heart problems and psychotic behavior?

• If you think your child has problems with ADD research your child.  Make detailed observations-
• Does your child focus on a video game?
• If your child exercises hard can they focus more on homework?
• Set your child up to work on homework for just 15 minutes and then reward them with 15 minutes of free time. (Adjust as needed to a low of 10 and a high of one hour) Observe them to see if they can focus.
• If you give your child a caffeinated soda like Mt. Dew can they focus on their homework better?
• Fresh air, lots of time for physical activity, and eating fruits and vegetables and eliminating sugar can help a child focus.

If you are trying to obtain a prescription just to help your child have an education edge be careful.  There are many parents out their who are sad they had their child on these medications.

Check out and read the whole article if you want more detail.